Sound Doctrine: The Fall of Man

Take your Bibles if you would please and turn to Genesis chapter 3. We're continuing in our sound doctrine series. Some Sundays ago we started this series with the title "The Need for Sound Doctrine," and then the next message was on the Holy Scriptures, and then the next message was "The One True God," and today's message is "The Fall of Man." So we are working through this sound series, and I believe that it is beneficial for us to explore what we believe. Today's message of course is on "The Fall of Man." It falls underneath the category of the doctrine of man, and I would again love to preach for weeks and weeks and weeks on each of these subjects. In order just to kind of keep the ball rolling, we will tackle what we can each Sunday, and give me grace for the rest of the content that should have been said if you would. Looking forward to preaching next week and taking on the monumental challenge of preaching doctrine — it is no easy task. I assure you that as soon as you start to dig into the Word of God, all you see is more and more and more that needs to be said, so keep coming if you would.

Today is on "The Fall of Man," and in Genesis chapter 3 we're going to read the whole chapter here in just a moment, but allow me to kind of give us some information up front when it comes to what we believe about "The Fall of Man." First of all, we believe that man was created in holiness in the very beginning under our Maker, according to Genesis 1:27, and then by a voluntary transgression all men have fallen. So Adam and Eve fell voluntarily, and as a consequence of that they are now sinners. Now they have sinned by their own choice. Isaiah 53:6 makes it clear that that is true. Let me read that to you as we kind of warm up our thoughts here: "All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him." And so all of us like sheep have gone astray — the consequences lie with us because it was of the free will of man to have done that.

Now you think to yourself, do we have a choice? Well, I'll continue to work on that as we unfold this doctrine. In the beginning when the fall happened, that meant that the fall tainted the will of man, and so we are now inclined to evil and therefore under condemnation. In Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 it says that we're dead in sin, and so the will of man was tainted by sin completely, to the point to where now we are children of wrath. The Bible says in verse 3, Ephesians 2:3, that our will has at birth now begun to be in bondage. So our will at birth is in bondage — that's what happened when the fall happened. We are at birth totally depraved children of wrath, and our will is bent towards disobedience. In Romans 1:20 it says that we are without excuse; everyone knows that there is a God, and from the testimony of even creation we know that these things are so. We are without excuse. Romans 3:23 says that we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

So if you remember anything from today, just remember: sin equals death. We're going to receive that in Genesis chapter 3 here in just a moment. So from the fall of man, the voluntary will of them to disobey God, they have sinned, and that carries through our lineage, and at birth our will is in bondage and we are bent towards sin. That's what the text is going to help us to see in Genesis chapter 3 today.

So I'll read along starting in chapter 3, verse 1. In Genesis 3:1: "Now the serpent..." — if we can pause there for just a moment. In Revelation chapter 12 verse 9 there are two titles given to this serpent: he is the deceiver and the accuser. I'll read it to you — in Revelation 12:9, you can just keep your place in Genesis 3: "And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down into the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him." Okay, so here you see that Satan is the serpent of old. In Genesis chapter 3 we're seeing the serpent here. His name is not only the great dragon but it's the devil and it's Satan, and he deceives the whole world. Okay, so Genesis chapter 3 verse 1: "Now the serpent..." — this accuser, this deceiver of the brethren — "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, and he, being a serpent, said to the woman, 'Indeed, has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden?'"

Keep your finger right there and think with me on this subject. First of all, Satan questions God's Word, and you must decide in your mind right away whether or not you believe in the authority and the sufficiency of God's Word, because that slithering serpent will deceive you first of all by questioning God's Word and making you say, "Hmm," and he's going to bring you to the side of the cliff and just barely tip you off. Satan is slick and we must know his strategy. So first of all he's going to question God's Word.

Now in verse 2: "The woman said to the serpent..." — that's another mistake. Don't ever talk to Satan. There's a big movement out there today where you're going to curse Satan or tell Satan to get behind you and all that kind of stuff. Let me tell you, he just laughs at you, and there's nothing that you can do to call Satan to do anything. You'd better pray to God. Don't pray to Satan. Don't talk to him. That's a mistake from the garden. You don't have the power to do anything. You cannot strong-arm Satan. The power of your words means nothing to him. The devil would even say, "Paul I know, but who are you?" and he'll squish you. He's equated to a roaring lion in 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 8. There's nothing that a human being can do against an 800-pound lion, so don't even attempt to fight in the flesh against someone like the angel Lucifer.

So the woman said to the serpent — first mistake there again is not only talking to Satan but speaking to him. In verse 2: "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat." Okay, if you take notes in your Bible you can write down two mistakes: listening and talking to the serpent. Listening and talking to the serpent. You have no business listening to evil nor talking to evil. We're children of God, and if you think of it in simple terms, I would never ever ever want my daughters talking to someone who is evil, nor would I want my daughters praying to evil. There is nothing there that is holy. We're children of light. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all, and so have these preset convictions as you go through life, and this is how you handle yourself and keep your family safe.

In verse 3: "But from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said you shall not eat from it or touch it or you will die." Still talking — shouldn't be talking to Satan, but she is. Hmm. Before we get to verse 4 and what Satan replied there, I want you to look with me in chapter 2 verse 17, because this is a very interesting subject. This gets to the heart of the world in Genesis chapter 1, and you must see this in order to comprehend the Scriptures correctly. You must comprehend death. This is what God has said, okay. In Genesis chapter 2 verse 17: "But from the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die." God said sin equals death. Sin equals death. Remember that today. And so when you comprehend that when you sin that comes with a death penalty — you're dead. All right, you're dead. Once you comprehend that you are fully dead and now you are in need of being redeemed, you can comprehend the gospel. Sin equals death, and this prescription from the beginning means that it takes someone like Christ to die in your place. And unless we understand Genesis in this creation account, we will not understand the full gravity of Christ dying in our place. He fully died for our sin. Sin equals death. You cannot redeem yourself. You're completely dead.

And so now we look at verse 4: "The serpent said to the woman, 'You surely will not die.'" Now this is twisting God's Word. It's an empty promise from the evil one. And guys, we live in another era where Arminian theology would diminish the full gravity and the extent of death. Are you fully dead or are you partially dead? Because if you are partially dead, then from the extent for which you are still alive you can choose God. But if you're fully dead you can't do anything — it takes God redeeming you. And this is sound doctrine. If you believe that you could do anything to save yourself, it's anti-biblical. You can't save yourself. You cannot choose God. None seek the Lord. You are dead, and from sin and that death penalty you are completely depraved. This is important to comprehend — the doctrine not only of man but the doctrine of soteriology and how salvation bleeds right into this subject. So Satan is getting right at the heart of the cross here when he says, "You surely will not die." So he's twisting God's Word. We must be students of God's Word so we pick up when Satan is twisting God's Word.

It is so clever today — Satan twists God's Word in every way possible. I hear songs on Christian radio stations that are twisted Scripture. I hear songs that are even sung in churches that have no — they have no idea how bad the theology really is today. We've been blessed to be able to sing such wonderful hymns, historic hymns, theological hymns, to help us to understand our faith in Christ and to worship God for who He truly is. When Satan twists God's Word, he gets right at the heart of the cross, and he will diminish death and he will give you the understanding that you have the power to do things — maybe even to choose God or to choose good. And that is the number one lie we live in. God says Satan is telling you that you're good. God's telling you you're bad. Satan is telling you it's — you're good. You go to church, you're good. You give, you're good. You serve, you're good. You've never killed anybody, you're good. And that message is straight out of the pit of hell. None are good, folks — no, not one. This is an important doctrine from the very beginning for us to be able to understand the very bedrock fundamental, so that we see our need of Jesus in the cross. And Satan is diminishing the gospel from the very beginning. And there's a whole lot going on here when it comes to Satan tempting Eve.

So in verse 4: "The serpent said to the woman, 'You surely will not die.'" Now again, Eve is listening and speaking to Satan. And something to our little ones right here — as I looked up this song to make sure that I could get it right, you remember, "Be careful, little ears, what you hear, right, for the Father up above is looking down in love. Be careful, little ears, what you hear. Be careful, little hands, what you do. Be careful, little feet, where you go. Be careful, little heart, whom you trust. And be careful, little mind, what you think." It's very important for us to be careful as to what we listen to. Right here Eve is making a very, very big mistake in listening with her ears to Satan and then speaking to him. Wow, how that creeps in. It's worth noting as well that Satan attacks the weaker vessel first.

All right, verse 5: "For God knows that in the day that you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Okay, you'd be made aware. And verse 6: "When the woman saw..." — okay, she's looking in the wrong direction. She's not being careful with her eyes. "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to her eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees in the garden."

Now this is a rapid succession of verbs — if you look at it in the English language, a rapid decline in a sinful direction. Think with me on this subject: Satan tempts us and sin happens fast. When Satan tempts you and you listen and you start interacting with that sin, the decline happens real fast. He wants to strike while the iron's hot. He wants to ruin your life while he can. He's not going to give up. He's going to provide immense opportunity for you. The rapid verbs here happen in succession — saw, took, ate, gave, ate — these things are something to where you think to yourself, how do you fall into temptation and get yourself into such a huge mess so fast? Well, Satan just lines it up like dominoes for you to fall. He is a master at temptation and he's not thinking one step ahead, he's thinking ten steps ahead. In this portion you see the verbs — one, two, three, four, five, six or seven verbs here — doors like bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. He had it all planned out. As soon as Satan could get Eve's ear, he knew exactly where he was going to take her, and it was effective.

In verse 9: "Then the Lord God called to the man and said to him, 'Where are you?' And he said, 'I heard the sound of You in the garden. I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself.'" In verse 11: "And He said, 'Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?'" You see personal responsibility right there in verse 11. And now you're going to see the blame game — then I hope you're better than Adam.

Verse 12: "Then the man said, 'The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree and I ate.'" What a crybaby. All right, verse 13: "Then the Lord said to the woman, 'What is this that you have done?' And the woman said, 'The serpent deceived me and I ate.'" Again the blame game. Children, don't do that either, okay. You learn this from the very beginning in life — just the blame game. It's not my fault, it's somebody else's fault. And as soon as you can see somebody else, you blame it on them. But the one who takes personal responsibility for their own sin, they're able to confess their sins and stay right with the Lord.

And verse 14: "The Lord God said to the serpent..." — because you — you can circle this pronoun here straight through verses 14 and 15 and you'll see where the responsibility is. "The Lord God said to the serpent, 'Because you have done this, cursed are you more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field. On your belly you will go, and the dust you will eat all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. And he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.'" There's the first account of the gospel in the Word of God, in verse 15.

And then in verse 16: "To the woman He said, 'I will multiply your pain in childbirth; in pain you will bring forth children. Yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.'" And so there are two points here for the woman from the curse in the garden. Number one, the results of the rebellion for the woman is pain in childbirth — not for the man, by the way. I know that's kind of confusing in our day, but man will not have pain in childbirth. And then a desire for her husband will be set. So you as a woman will desire authority over your husband — that's a curse in the garden. Ladies, listen to me. I see mass destruction in families because of the curse from the very beginning. This is one of the very first curses. The very first thing that you will struggle with in your marriage — remind yourself when you wake up: I am to be subordinate to my husband. I am to be subordinate and obedient to my God. This is a curse from the beginning. You have a desire to rule over, to dominate, to demean your husband. It's a curse. When you recognize that, you can keep yourself in check and use your lips for loving reasons and not lash out and be sharp. It's a self-denial thing. It's a crucified life. It's being subordinate. It's very important for you to realize that the results from the curse are that you will constantly want to control and rule your household when that is not the order.

It's just as bad as the family unit not being in order. It's just as bad as the church not being in order. And Paul sent Titus to the island of Crete to straighten out the churches, to set them in order, to establish elders — male headship. Okay, you can see the family unit needs to be organized. You can see the church needs to be organized. And you see all of creation that is organized. God is a God of order, and from the very beginning Satan wants to disrupt and cause disorder, cause confusion. All of this is his tactics.

Now back to the Word. In verse 17: "Then to Adam He said, 'Because you have listened to the voice of your wife...'" — oh, what a tough subject. Men, listen to your wives when they are right, okay. May I just pause — stop there. All right, we'll keep reading. "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it,' cursed is the ground because of you. In toil you will eat from it all the days of your life." So a curse for the man is hard work, okay. And all the days of your life, in verse 18: "Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. And by the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, because from it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Dust to dust.

Okay, verse 20: "Now the man called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all living." And the Lord God made garments of skin — there's the gospel again. There must be shedding of blood for the remission of sins. Verse 21: "The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and He clothed them. Then the Lord said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of Us...'" — the capital pronoun "Us" there referring to the Trinity — "'...knowing good and evil. And now he might stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore the Lord God sent him out from the Garden of Eden to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man, and at the east of the Garden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way of the tree of life.'"

And so that's Genesis chapter 3 in a nutshell. And there's so much more to talk about there, but some of the high points that I want to expound upon with you from the fall of man — number one, man was created in the image of God. In Genesis 1:27 you see that all of mankind was created in God's image, and the reality of being made in God's image is that all life is sacred. So the sanctity of life is important, so we should be ones who speak up for the sanctity of life. And for those who you know are committing murder or abortions, we should encourage them not to do that because that's murder. So the image of God teaches us that we are made in the image of God, and from that life is sacred. Man is sacred because we are made in His image.

And then another point from this is that we are spiritual beings. So the reality of this is that we have not only sanctity but spirituality. And then from spirituality we have also rationality, and then the ability not only to rationalize but to think of things of the past and think of things of the future shows us that we are more than mere animals. Animals don't think of the past and the future. We have rationality, not only spirituality. We know that God exists. Dogs don't know that God exists. They only know that you're going to give them food when you get home from church today, hopefully, and they're going to wag their tail and respond instinctively or whatnot. They don't have what we have. But from being made in the image of God we have sanctity, spirituality, rationality, and then as well dignity. We should honor all men because they are made in the image of God. Dignity, and not only dignity — not equity, not fairness — equality. All classes are truly equal in merit unto God. So there's one race, by the way, from Genesis: one race — mankind. Okay, don't get caught up in today's woke ideologies.

And then the most important aspect of who we are, being made in the image of God, is morality. And morality is very important because God's standards of morality must be upheld. We are moral beings. We're made in the image of God and in His personal likeness. Now this moral likeness is to be holiness. Our morality must be holy. It's a fundamental attribute of God. Everybody thinks that God is love — He is love — but His primary attribute is not love. His primary attribute in His essence first of all is holiness, and from who He is in His essence all things flow. Holiness is the chief attribute of God. I want to read to you Ephesians 4:24: "And put on the new self which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth." And so as one who is an image bearer, in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 24, you need to know that the new man, the new self, the regenerate one — you putting on the new self like clothes, you're putting on this newness and you're renewing yourself day by day by prayer and asking for forgiveness of your sins. And God is washing you and cleansing you and making you a pure bride for Himself. You are for Christ. And in verse 24, it leads to holiness: "And put on the new self which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness and in truth." All right, so our morality leads to holiness, and God's measure and standard of what is right and true and holy equals holiness, and our morality is to be what God's standard is.

Now man's will is inclined not towards the godly but it's inclined towards sin. We are capable of sinning. Genesis chapter 2 verse 16 gives us the fact that we can make that choice. Chapter 2 verse 16: "The Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'From any tree of the garden you may eat freely.'" Okay, there's a choice. And then in verse 17: "But from the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not..." — there's a command, a prohibition — "you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die." There's the result of sin.

But not only are we capable of sinning, we are culpable for what we do. Okay, you are capable of sinning, but what you do comes with ramifications. There's a penalty for sin. You have the ability to sin, but when you do sin the results are yours. You shall not sin — sin equals death. This is why Christ had to die, to place Himself as a substitutionary death for you. You cannot pay for your own sin. You don't have enough merit, enough worth. You don't have enough life. There's nothing within you that can pay for a single sin. But Christ — His essence and His deity and His worth, His unlimited essence, His deity — has the ability to pay for your sin. So we are culpable. We deserve what we have in front of us as children of wrath. We are blameworthy. We get this truth from exegetically revealing what the Bible has to say. You pull out of the Bible what it says, and that is fundamentally from a conviction of interpreting the Scriptures from a literal, historical, and grammatical perspective.

Okay — literally, Genesis chapter, all of Genesis, literal history. It actually happened. God actually created the heavens and the earth. All of the six days of creation actually happened. It's not poetry. It's not figurative. It's not anything at all except actual. So literally the Bible means what it means, and then from a historical standpoint — well, obviously it happened at some point in time. "In the beginning" — there's a time stamp. "In the beginning" is when time started. So historically we see that, and we see historically it's also cultural. In that cultural setting, authorial intent — the author said to the audience, historically that's what the meaning is. We don't do a reader response and say, "Well, that's what that means to me," right? That would be taking a historical document out of context and trying to interpret a different language in a different continent in a different culture in your context. Well, that's not what it means. So our job is to study it literally, historically, and grammatically to see what it says first, and then you get the meaning. And you'll stay away from long ages, you'll stay away from all of this.

And by the way, if you use a different hermeneutic — which is what I'm talking about — and apply it to Genesis chapter 1, if you use anything other than the literal, grammatical, and historical method to interpret Scripture in Genesis chapter 1, then you get everything else wrong. And that's where we get all of our different denominations and the craziness going on today. If you break Genesis 1 and you break the fundamental way to interpret God's Word — what the author is saying to the audience in a literal, grammatical, and historical way — then all of a sudden the gospel gets diminished, because you shall — certainly, "You're not really going to die all the way. I mean, you know..." And then from there everything else kind of goes haywire.

Okay, now one of the ways that it goes haywire is that man freely sinned. Okay, and then if you freely sin from there you're going to get the direction that you want to go, and as a sinner the only option that you really truly have is selfishness. So everything that you do is pragmatic for yourself. Listen to this — in point number two: man freely sinned. So Satan tempted Eve and sin crept in. You can write down this — what sin really is. Sin is this: fulfilling a God-given desire in a God-forbidden way. It's really easy to remember what sin is. The desires that you have are intended to be fulfilled in a God-given way. So what is sin? It is fulfilling a God-given desire in a God-forbidden way. That's what sin is. It's revolting against the Lord. Eve listened to the tempter and she isolated herself, and she chose not to believe God's Words. She got drawn in to Satan's trap, and at the same time she willfully chose to be independent from her husband, independent from God. And then unbelief and pride and lust came from sin.

Now both Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, but it was Eve's choice that first caused the fall. 1 Timothy 2:14 makes that clear, not only in Genesis 3. But turn with me if you would to 1 Timothy 2. I want you to see now the position of the woman, and this is healthy doctrine, this is healthy information for the family. It's very important for us to be able to understand how to operate as Christians within a Christian household. This is going to make you different from the people who are non-Christians. This is going to set you aside and it's going to cause others to wonder why you do what you do. Believe me, this is different in this day and age. First Timothy, hang a left, go back a little bit. First Timothy chapter 2, verse — and we'll start in verse 11. So 1 Timothy 2:11: "A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness." Okay, 1 Timothy 2:12: "But I do not allow a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet."

Now the gift of teaching is for both men and women, and so women are to teach sound doctrine. They are to teach their daughters. They are to teach their children. They are to teach. And behind the scenes, ladies — if you've got a better grip on sound doctrine than your husband does, then you guys sit down and hash it out and talk through it and work on sound doctrine. But a woman is not to teach publicly in a mixed crowd. She can teach women's Bible studies, but it's here that women are to exercise submissiveness and not authority over the man. So verse 12: "But I do not allow a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet." Not as if you are silenced and you can't say anything — that's not what that means. In verse 13: "For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into transgression." And so there Eve sinned first.

And now we have an order. In a revolt against God's created order, women — same as men — would try and be independent of God's law and want to do things for themselves. Now you see this as a primary means of education today all around the world. Do you not know that humanism is at the peak of education in a secular world? The end goal is for Satan to get you to be able to say to yourself, "I am God." That's the end goal. Humanism wants you as the apex, at the very top of your own desires. Today in our worldly culture, man is at the top of its moral mountain. If you think of the very height of morality today in the world, man determines — mankind has removed God and replaced morality with what he thinks is best. Historically the Greeks thought that man is the measure of all things — that puts man at the center of all things. It displaces God as the center of all things. It displaces Christ as the Head of the church. It replaces the husband as the head of the home. And this is all rebelling against God's created order. This is a result of the sin in the garden.

But I'm here to tell you that man is not the measure of all things. God's Word is the measure of all things. Man is what God says man is, and nothing more, nothing less. But when you make up who you want to be and what you want to be, you're a cultural relativist. Every truth is relative: what's true for you is true for you, what's true for me is true for me. But that doesn't work. It eventually collides, and nothing is true, and you don't even know what reality is at the end of that ambiguous road. You're confused, Satan's got a grip on you, and you'll end up suicidal. It's true. And that is Satan's aim — to steal, kill, and to destroy. John 10:10, folks. From the very beginning we must understand what sound doctrine is, because if you get off just a little bit in the beginning, by the time you get to living your life in the New Testament you're so far out of whack you don't even know what is up or down theologically, and that will ruin your life. Especially for the original sins that we see in the garden — when it comes to the woman submitting to the husband, when it comes to the husband leading in the home — these are truth doctrines from the beginning.

But from the curse you fight against that type of stuff. But if you could pray and say, "God, help me — wash away these feelings, give me the desire..." The Bible actually says that if you would delight yourself in the Lord He will give you the desires of your heart. And so if you keep delighting in the Word of God and you keep submitting yourself to the Word of God, the Word of God is like water to wash all of that filthy original sin out of you, and you actually have the right desires. And that is a harmonious home. That's beautiful — when you actually have the desires from God because you've been seeking God. If you delight yourself in the Lord He will give you the desires of your heart — the psalmist has said so.

I encourage you, study the Bible all you can. You can't get enough Bible. There's nothing better than Bible study around here. We started "The Bible and Make Disciples." If we boiled life in Christ down to two things: study the Bible and make disciples. Study the Bible and make disciples. We study the Bible through the 3D Bible study method that we have in our Bible study groups, and we make disciples with our Next Steps booklet, which by the way we have a new order coming — it's coming. All right, just in a few weeks we'll be able to get that in the church. Praise God, you'll have your copy.

Now, not only was man made in God's image and free to sin, but now sin is universal. Okay, everyone is born with that evil nature. "There is none righteous, no, not one." Sin equals death. In Genesis 2:17: "You shall surely die." Okay, this equals total depravity. Not only is sin now universal, but sin brings depravity. "You do not have His word abiding in you," John 5:38, and without Christ in you you are not saved. Your destination is destruction. Total depravity — when you are in Christ you're now replaced with His life and now you have life in Him. But John 5:38 says, "You do not have His word abiding in you." So total depravity is a very important lesson that comes from man's fall.

When you understand and embrace the extent of the fall, you understand the extent of the gospel. So sometimes we speak of depravity but we really don't know the extent. This doesn't mean that everyone is a deranged psychopath. It means that sin has corrupted and defiled all of you. There's nothing left in you that's good from total depravity. And we look at our little children and we love them, but they are little sinners. They need Jesus, and if you do not teach them Jesus you will see just how big of a sinner they are as they grow up. Teach them Jesus and indoctrinate them. By the way, sin — it's like an iceberg. When you see just a little bit of sin above the surface, there's a whole lot more underneath the surface. So be very wise when you see and perceive sin. There's a whole lot more behind the surface. My wife and I have found this true through and through in ministry. As soon as you get just a little snippet of something on the surface, it's worth pausing and addressing, because there's a lot more underneath the surface. That's the way sin is. Sin is never satisfied. Sin is never satisfied. Once it kills you, it's going after your spouse. Once it kills you, it's going after your children. Sin is never satisfied. Destruction is never satisfied. Even in the end in Revelation, evil turns on evil and they devour each other. So once evil gets through with you it turns on itself. Sin is never satisfied. Do not play with it. Understand the extent of its deadliness.

When you understand sin, it brings guilt. Gets you the blues. You get sad. Is that a good thing? If you're sad over sin, it is. 2 Corinthians 7:10 says a godly sorrow leads to repentance and to salvation. If you never see sin for what it is, so you celebrate sin, then you will never be sorrowful for your sin. But when you see sin in light of a holy God, and that you have sinned against Him, then you are sorrowful for that, and that according to 2 Corinthians 7:10 leads to repentance. And when you repent you can be saved. The Bible says in Luke 13:3: "Unless you repent, you will likewise perish." And so repentance is a precursor to salvation. What's a precursor to repentance? Sorrowfulness. When you comprehend sin, you're brought low. So guilt is a good thing. When you experience that, when you have the blues, it's going to give you a clue. When you're sad, it's a clue. The blues are a clue. When you're sad about your sin, it's leading you to Christ.

When you understand this, then you understand the penalty is real. Sin has a penalty. I've told you already this message that men are capable, and now they're culpable, for their sin. Did you know that Ezekiel 28:22 says, "Behold, I am against you." When you have a holy God as powerful as God is saying, "Behold," catching your attention — those who are not saved — "I am against you." That's a fearful thing. Hebrews 10:31 says the Lord will judge. "It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the Lord."

Now the only answer is Christ, in Christ alone. And Adam was a type of Christ, and we see deliverance from sin. Adam not only was a type of Christ, he helps us to understand in Romans — turn there if you would as we start to close today's message. Romans chapter 5 helps us to see the solution to all of this, because in Adam — which we are all in Adam — we all die. There is nothing other than us being born in sin. The psalmist said so. We all die, and in Adam's sin we're all condemned, right. But Adam being a type of Christ, through one death there is one solution. So it's in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says: "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation. The old things have passed away and behold the new things have come."

So in Romans chapter 5 verse 12, I'll read a little bit more on the doctrine of original sin with you, and you can help bridge Genesis chapter 1 here to Romans chapter 5 in our New Testament. Verse 15: "We know that the free gift is not like the transgression, for if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abound to many. This gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned, for on the one hand the judgment arose from the transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act..." — circle that: "one act," right there — that is the cross, there's the hope — "through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men." Isn't that great? Verse 19: "For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one..." — capital pronoun, the One, that's Christ — "the many will be made righteous."

This is beautiful. Now when you place your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and not in yourself, then you are starting down the road of salvation. God will grant you understanding in these truths. I promise you — pray to Him and say, "Lord, help me to understand the fall of man. Help me to understand my sinful condition." If you're not saved, then your state is death. But God can resurrect you. The picture of baptism helps us to see that Jesus raises us from death to life. John chapter 3 — Nicodemus said, "How can I be born again?" Jesus is telling you today that He must raise you from the grave, and He will give you that gift of faith if you believe. And so if you believe that Jesus died on a cross and rose again, you will be saved. So I encourage you today — who've never been saved — to cry out to Him and ask Him for forgiveness of your sin. Recognize that you are totally depraved and without Him saving your soul the end result for your life is death and destruction.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we do love You and we thank You for this sound doctrine. These are hard truths, and now as we have gone low to understand sin, I look forward to the weeks upcoming where we can climb up and talk about the way of salvation. I look forward, Lord, to singing Your praises and to understanding more about the cross and about how we are saved through Your death, burial, and resurrection. And Father, if there's anyone here who has never been saved by Your grace, God, I pray that You would grant them the gift of faith. Help them, dear God, to believe. The Bible is very clear. Sometimes we even have to ask, "Help me with my unbelief." And Father, I pray for anyone here — if they need to cry out to You, may You help their circumstances. Provide a way for them to kneel down, to do business with You, to truly reflect upon their life, and may this service be very penetrating to their life if they never have. Father, we do love You, and we ask that You would continue to bless this dear church. In Christ's name, Amen.